MDL 101 - Introduction to Middle Housing

Course Description

This course introduces learners to the foundational principles, history, and policy landscape of developing middle housing in Canada. You'll explore how housing types like duplexes, triplexes, townhomes, and low-rise apartments serve as a vital bridge between single-family homes and high-rise buildings. Through the lens of history, urban planning, and market dynamics, you’ll learn why this “missing middle” has been excluded from many neighbourhoods—and what it will take to bring it back.

The course covers the evolution of housing in Canadian cities, systemic barriers to middle housing development, and the regulatory and financial frameworks influencing supply. You'll analyze current housing challenges and discover how to create middle housing that contributes to walkable, resilient, and equitable communities. You’ll also get a grounding in current national and provincial programs and policies, and explore real-world case studies and emerging policy reforms to navigate your own land development project.

Course Details

Learning Outcomes:

• Describe how middle housing functions within Canada’s housing system by explaining its historical evolution, core principles, policy context, and the systemic barriers that shape its delivery, and evaluate its potential to address housing, affordability, and sustainable community outcomes. 
• Describe  the systemic, regulatory, financial, and political barriers that constrain middle housing delivery, and relate these challenges to real-world project scenarios,
• Analyse the systemic, regulatory, financial, and political barriers that constrain middle housing delivery, and relate these challenges to real-world project scenarios.
• Locate and interpret key federal, provincial, and municipal programs and policy tools—including CMHC initiatives and the Housing Accelerator Fund—that influence middle housing supply and implementation. 
• Identify and classify the major forms and typologies of middle housing, including their spatial characteristics, design features, and suitability across different neighbourhood contexts. 
• Describe and Recognize typical site constraints and features that affect the design and development of middle housing (e.g., setbacks, parking, access) and the key design and building code implications associated with different typologies, including fire safety, accessibility, and circulation.
• Analyse the end-to-end middle housing development process—from lot identification through project turnover—by identifying the responsibilities of key project roles, community engagement,  interpreting how pre-development decisions shape feasibility, and evaluating common risks and failure points through real-world case examples. 
• Assess real-world middle housing development scenarios by weighing site conditions, regulatory constraints, stakeholder considerations, and project risks to inform practical decision-making. 
• Evaluate the potential of middle housing to address national housing shortages, improve affordability, and contribute to walkable, sustainable neighbourhoods through case studies and policy examples.